The Music of Erich Zann
by Fan Of Games
Summary: Kanaria meets a violin player by the name of Erich Zann. She thinks that Erich Zann is an ordinary violinist selling violins, but is there more to Erich Zann than meets the eye? Based on and inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's The Music of Erich Zann.
1. Chapter 1

**I**

It was pretty much a typical day for a certain green haired doll. Trying to get all of her sisters' Rosa Mysticas was going to prove no problem for her…if one of her plans had actually succeeded.

Now, it wasn't really hard to imagine what sort of plan Kanaria had to take her sisters' Rosa Mysticas, considering that they were all obvious. Either it was trying to break into the Sakurada house by whatever ridiculous means necessary which would always end in failure, or it was just going through an N-Field or two so that she could stage a direct assault which also always ended in failure. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get one single Rosa Mystica from one of her sisters.

Her attempts to defeat her sisters had always ended with some comedic disaster brought down upon herself.

It was after one such attempt, that Kanaria had left the Sakurada house so that she could formulate her next plan.

"Oh, I can't believe that Suigintou had blinded me with her feathers while one of the other Rozen Maidens or Barasuishou took my violin! That's so unfair!" she shouted while sitting under a tree. "They'll regret taking my violin! I'll get it back! You hear me? I'll get all of you for this, you hear?" she then shouted at or to no one in particular.

She was shouting about her sisters, but no one was around to even listen. The only people, who could hear her, were the construction workers in the nearby construction site, which was behind the tree that Kanaria was sitting under.

As Kanaria was thinking of a way to get back at her sisters, the construction workers began their work. Kanaria had to cover her ears, since she was so close to the construction site. She ran around the tree to try to confront the construction workers.

"Would all of you kindly stop working so I can think?" Kanaria shouted, although her shouting wouldn't make the construction workers stop. Their work was too loud for them to hear the living doll who was shouting at them.

Kanaria, looking real displeased as always when things weren't going her way, walked over to the construction site and looked around. As her eyes landed on a trailer that the head of the construction workers was using as an office, she saw a drill on some wooden boards.

"Aha! Now there's something I can use." She said while running over to it, making sure that none of the construction workers saw her.

Upon reaching it, she took it in her hands and examined it. She ran her hand along the cord of the drill, and noticed that there was an electrical socket nearby. She plugged the cord into the socket and turned the drill on. The drill came to life, spinning at a high speed.

Kanaria smiled and laughed. "Ha ha ha! With this drill, I shall turn those other Rozen Maidens and Barasuishou into Swiss cheese and take their Rosa Mysticas and my violin back!" she laughed.

Her new plan was about to backfire in its early development, since the head of the construction workers was coming out of the trailer. When he came out, he saw the drill turned on while it was lying on the ground, with the cord still in the socket.

…

Kanaria peeked around the corner of a fence and made sure that she wasn't followed. When she saw that no one was coming her way, she slumped against the fence and breathed a sigh of relief. "Man that was close. Good thing I got out of there in time." She said as she looked up towards the sky. "Now what am I going to do?"

Kanaria stood up and started walking down the sidewalk with her head hanging down. After what seemed like thirty minutes of walking, she started to hear some strange music. Kanaria looked up and saw that she was in front of a small violin shop. The name of the shop was Rue d'Auseil.

"Wow, a violin shop…" Kanaria said as she went in.

The violin shop was small and looked similar to Enju's doll shop, except violins were on display and being sold.

The man at the counter was a short old man, and he was playing a violin. The violin was the source of the strange music.

Upon Kanaria's entry, he stopped playing and looked at his watch. Then he got up and walked over to Kanaria, who was still in front of the door. Once he got to her, he reached over to the glass of the door and turned the sign around so that the word "open" was facing the inside of the shop. He opened the door and gestured for Kanaria to leave, by showing that the shop was closing for the day.

"Oh, it's closing time already? Well, I'll come back tomorrow, okay?" Kanaria asked and walked out as the man nodded and closed the door.

Kanaria stood outside and gazed at the violins until the man turned off the lights. "I so want to look at those violins." Kanaria said as walked back up the sidewalk.

Five minutes later, she realized that it was already night time and that she was lost. "Aw great! My violin gets taken away, my plan fails before I could pull it off, it becomes dark, and now I'm lost! Can't this day get any worse?" she shouted in disbelief. As if on cue because she asked for it, it started to rain and thunder.

"Oh, me and my big mouth!" Kanaria shouted as she ran towards the nearest mirror so that she could use the N-Field to get back to Mitsu's home.

…...

I was rereading through some stories by H.P. Lovecraft and some other authors. When I came to The Music of Erich Zann, I thought about making a Rozen Maiden crossover with it.

When I was thinking about it, I decided to keep the title of H.P. Lovecraft's original The Music of Erich Zann story, the same. "Why?" you ask? Well, to put it simply, I liked how the title of H.P. Lovecraft's version was, and I couldn't really think of anything else to call it. So, I decided to make my own version of The Music of Erich Zann, but since I felt that would go really well with Rozen Maiden, so I thought about how it would work. Since Kanaria plays a violin, it looked like it would be okay.

There were a few things in The Music of Erich Zann that looked good, but I changed them a bit so they would go well with my version of the story. I made the Rue d'Auseil a violin shop instead of an apartment building, and I made Erich Zann the owner of the violin shop. Instead of playing a viol, Erich Zann plays a violin.

Everything else in the story is the same, except for the fact that it's my version of The Music of Erich Zann and it's a crossover between it (The Music of Erich Zann) and Rozen Maiden. So, with all of that said, you may not see any more author's notes in the future chapters of this story. I'm planning on three, maybe four, chapters for this story.

And now, to end my author's notes for this chapter, I shall put this disclaimer: I do not own Rozen Maiden or The Music of Erich Zann. The Music of Erich Zann is owned by H.P. Lovecraft (because he's the guy who wrote it in the first place) and Rozen Maiden is owned by, I believe, Peach-Pit (if Peach-Pit doesn't own Rozen Maiden, then can you mention who does own it when you review this story?).

Oh, and I almost forgot a dedication: I'd like to dedicate this story to H.P. Lovecraft. His work is truly an inspiration to us all.


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

It was around noon on a sunny Saturday. The birds were singing, people were out and about, and everything was just normal.

The Sakurada house wasn't a normal house, although it was still normal, despite the living dolls living there.

Within the house on this particular day, were six of the seven Rozen Maiden dolls, minus Kanaria, and Barasuishou, Enju's doll. Joining them were Megu, Suigintou's Medium, and Tomoe, Hinaichigo's former Medium.

With Megu's parents away overseas on business like Jun's parents, she was allowed to stay at the Sakurada house until her parents came back. Suigintou had forgiven Shinku and was no longer playing the Alice Game, since the Alice Game was no longer in effect.

Barasuishou and Souseiseki came over all of the time, as Barasuishou couldn't be seen at Enju's doll shop, and Souseiseki couldn't be seen at the clock shop where she lived with her Medium and his wife. Tomoe came over to the Sakurada house on some days while on other days she stayed at home with her parents.

At this time today, the Rozen Maidens, Barasuishou, Megu, and Tomoe were having tea and chatting about some things, when Kanaria just walked into the living room where everyone else was.

"Oh, you're back." Suigintou said sarcastically and coldly. "As if you haven't learned your lessen yesterday…"

"Quiet you. I just came back to get my violin is all. I won't give any of you trouble. Once I have my violin, I'll be on my way." Kanaria said as she walked to the center of the group.

"And just why should we believe your word?" Suiseiseki asked suspiciously.

"Because I have somewhere else to go, and I'm going to bring my violin with me." Kanaria answered.

"And just where is this place that you're going?" Shinku asked both curiously and suspiciously.

"A violin shop that's about the same size as Enju's doll shop." Kanaria answered again.

"Oh, a violin shop! How lovely! What's the shop's name?" Megu said with a smile on her face as she clapped her hands together.

"It's called Rue d'Auseil." Kanaria said as she picked up a pretzel from a bowl that was on the table.

"You've been to Rue d'Auseil?" Barasuishou asked as if she knew the place.

"How do you know Rue d'Auseil!" Kanaria asked accusingly.

"Because my Father has been to that place." Barasuishou answered coldly.

"Oh, um, really…well, does he know the man who owns the shop?" Kanaria asked sheepishly.

"Well, the owner's name is Erich Zann, and he's a mute. He has opened up that shop around one to two weeks ago. Most people stay away from there as they say that they hear strange music from his shop in the middle of the night. And that's all that my Father knows." Barasuishou explained.

Kanaria thought of her visit to Rue d'Auseil the previous day. She had gone there because the strange music she heard had fascinated her. Something told her that Barasuishou seemed to be right, but…but the strange music was really something. She never heard music like that before. If she listened to it for a while, then maybe she could bring it up with Erich Zann. He could teach her how to play the strange music. It was just too good to pass up the opportunity.

"Bah, I'm sure that there's nothing wrong. It's probably some new tune that he came up with or learned from someone else. Now, can I have my violin back please?" she said as she held her hands out.

Barasuishou thought about it for a few seconds. "Alright, but you'd better stop your bad behavior." she said as gave Kanaria's violin back to her.

"Thank you, and now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading to Erich Zann's violin shop." Kanaria said as she walked out through the sliding glass door.

….

Kanaria walked over to Erich Zann's shop for what was the fifth day she had been going there. For the past four days, she had learned how to fix violin strings from him and learned about different kinds of violins. She even told people to come to his violin shop, but that was mostly no use, as a lot of people didn't want to set foot near the shop ever again, and the few that had to go past his shop on their way to another place moved quicker and didn't even look at his shop, or didn't even look in its direction.

But when it got dark out, she would sit or lay beside the shop and let the strange music play on. For two of the nights that she had been listening to the strange music, she sat on the roof and noticed that there was a skylight there. She didn't notice the skylight until she saw it two nights ago. It was never open during the day, but it was only open when Erich Zann was playing his strange music. Whenever he stopped playing the strange music, he would shut it and close the shop.

Today, Kanaria would ask him to teach her how to play the strange music. Once she told him that she had been listening to him play the strange music for some time, then he might be willing to teach her.

Once she was at the shop, she walked in and greeted Erich Zann, before she got down to the business she wished to make. "Mr. Zann, about a week ago, I was passing by your shop one night and I heard some strange music coming from your shop. When I saw that you were playing it, I decided to listen to it for some time. And now, I'd like to ask you if you could teach me to play the strange music." she said while taking her violin out of the backpack she had brought with her.

Erich Zann, however, didn't look pleased at that. Instead, his face looked angry and fearful at the same time. He quickly glanced up at the skylight and turned his attention back to Kanaria. He then opened up a drawer in his desk and started to look for something. Kanaria wondered what he was looking for, when a few seconds later, he took out a pen and a paper, and started to write something down for the next five minutes before handing the paper to Kanaria.

Kanaria looked over the paper. It said:

_Kanaria, I must ask that you no longer come to my shop at night. I'm in a position where I must play that music only at night, and because of that position and other reasons, I can't teach you the strange music you have heard every night for the past week. No one must hear that music. Please forget all about the music. I'm not telling you that you are no longer welcome here, I'm just telling you that I'd appreciate if you didn't come at night. I hope you understand._

That was all the paper said. Kanaria read over it for a few minutes while Erich Zann did his work. She understood most of it, but she couldn't quite get what he meant when he mentioned a position he was in, some other reasons, and why no one was supposed to hear the music.

Was Erich Zann in some kind of danger? Kanaria looked over to Erich Zann as his back was turned to her. She then looked up at the skylight. She remembered how it was open when he was playing the strange music. But why was that it was only open when he played the strange music? That was a piece of the puzzle that Kanaria would have great difficulty finding.

Erich Zann asked her to stay away from his shop at night. But he only played that strange music at night and that was the only time at night when the skylight was open.

Kanaria figured that she's come to his shop again at night, but she'd put a hold on that for a week, before she did anything. For now, she'd just see how things played out and develop.


	3. Chapter 3

**III**

Kanaria sat in between Hinaichigo and Souseiseki with a frown on her face. Her tea was untouched.

For the past week, she had tried to enter Erich Zann's shop, but to no avail since it was closed for the whole week. The lights weren't on and the blinds were closed along with the skylight. He didn't even come to the door when she knocked.

Kirakishou, who was sitting across from Kanaria, noticed that Kanaria seemed to be thinking about something. "Is something wrong, Kanaria?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

Kanaria snapped out of her thinking and sighed. "It's Erich Zann. His shop wasn't open for the past week." She said while taking a sip of her tea.

"Well, it could be that he's sick or something." Souseiseki said while she took a sip of her tea.

"Something as in…being in some kind of danger?" Kanaria asked. She didn't want to show her sisters or anyone else that she was nervous. She was starting to about how the people who stayed away from Erich Zann's shop might have the right idea, even if they didn't know anything about him.

"What kind of danger?" Suigintou asked as she set her empty tea cup down and crossed her arms.

"As in being in some kind of position where you're forced to do something or else something bad might happen." Kanaria answered.

"What kind of position?" Suigintou then asked, with her arms still crossed.

"I don't know. I'm just making a guess about why his shop has been closed for a whole week." Kanaria said while closing her eyes and taking another sip of her tea.

"You're just jumping to conclusions. He shouldn't be in danger of someone because very few people go to his shop, and those people never went back. Nobody would even want to rob him, since he doesn't have much money and also because his shop is probably haunted." Barasuishou said while taking a cracker from a bowl.

"His place is…haunted?" Megu said nervously while she started to tremble.

"Its okay, Megu. As long as you don't go near that place, then you'll be fine." Suigintou said while getting up and going over to Megu so that they could sit next to each other.

"If it's haunted, then…are there ghosts there?" Hinaichigo asked nervously.

"The shop has never had any history of ghosts there, although people do get this strange feeling that seems to dangle over the shop. I don't know what kind of feeling it is, but when my Father told me about the shop, he said that there was some sort of queerness to the shop and that it didn't feel good." Barasuishou explained as she took another cracker.

Kanaria thought about all of the times when she went to Erich Zann's shop. She had felt something there, but she dismissed it as being of no importance. But when she was by the skylight, when she was inside the shop, she felt that the skylight was where the source of the weird feeling she had had been coming from. She didn't get any weird feeling when she was outside the shop, so was it a feeling that could only be felt inside the shop? Was it coming into the shop through the skylight? Was it why Erich Zann played the strange music? Was he using the strange music to call something or to please something?

Kanaria felt that tonight was the night where she would act. She would go to the shop, go up by the skylight and look around for anything. And if she didn't find anything, then she'd go into the shop and look up through the skylight. That skylight seemed to be the center of the feeling. Maybe it was a door to the N-Field. Whatever the case, Kanaria would find out what was going on tonight.

…

Kanaria walked down the sidewalk towards Erich Zann's shop. A lantern was in her hand. She had it on since it was really dark. She shivered a bit, not because she was cold, but because she was nervous. There was something about that skylight that didn't feel right.

Kanaria knew that she could turn back, but she didn't. She felt like something big was going to happen tonight.

Kanaria looked up. She had reached her destination: Rue d'Auseil, Erich Zann's violin shop.

Gathering up all of her courage, Kanaria knocked on the door. At first, she didn't hear anything. Then as she was about to knock again, she heard something from inside the shop. The door opened. Within the shop, stood Erich Zann. Kanaria expected him to be tired, yet for some strange reason, he looked happy that she was there. He ushered her in and gestured for her to take a seat.

"Mr. Zann…" Kanaria said as she swallowed a lump in her throat. "Is everything okay? Your shop was closed for the whole week. I was wondering why you just up and closed your shop." She said while Erich Zann wrote something down. When he was finished writing, he handed the paper to Kanaria.

Kanaria looked over the paper. It said:

_Kanaria, you're wondering why my shop has been closed for some time. I can tell you that I wasn't sick or anything. I know that people don't come here, but they don't know what it is that keeps them away. I told you that I was in a position, and now I shall reveal everything to you. I shall tell you the whole truth. The whole truth about the strange music and why I must play. Please be patient for a while._

Kanaria looked up and saw that Erich Zann was already writing something down. Some sheets of paper were on the counter, indicating that he was going to be a while.

And so, Kanaria sat in the chair for about an hour, waiting for Erich Zann to finish writing. Finally, Erich Zann was finished. He was about to hand Kanaria the papers when he looked up at the skylight, which was closed. He looked as if he were about to scream or something.

"Mr. Zann…" Kanaria asked nervously. She was about to take the papers when Erich Zann took his violin and started playing the strange music.

Kanaria knew that something was wrong. When she secretly listened to Erich Zann play the strange music, he would play slowly. But now…he was playing faster than that. Something was causing him to play faster.

As if to prove her right or to answer her thoughts, a powerful gust of wind broke through the closed skylight. The papers that Erich Zann was writing on were picked up by the wind and swept through the skylight. Kanaria ran under the skylight and almost screamed.

Kanaria knew that she and Erich Zann had to get out of Rue d'Auseil. She ran over to him and started to shake him. "Mr. Zann! We have to get out of here! Come on!" she shouted above Erich Zann's loud playing. It didn't look like he was answering her. She held the lamp up to his face and her eyes grew wide in horror and terror.

_Erich Zann wasn't moving at all. He wasn't breathing. He looked really cold, as if he was dead._

In fright, Kanaria ran out of the shop and ran across the street. She turned around and saw that the shop was no longer there. It was as if it had never existed in the first place.

…

A week had passed, and still, no one knew what became of Rue d'Auseil, or its owner, Erich Zann. Kanaria asked a lot of people, and they said that there was never a shop there. Even Enju said that there wasn't a shop there.

When Kanaria talked to Barasuishou, Barasuishou said that she lied about Erich Zann and Rue d'Auseil, and said that she only lied to try and see what Kanaria would do next.

Kanaria could not help but believe them. On that night, when she looked out the skylight, she didn't see the night sky.

_Instead, all she saw was space. Illimitable space that was alive and illuminated by music and motion._


End file.
